Some of the best companies out there have some sort of walk-in, on-campus health service. It may not have access to your records (which is good), but it is a potential win-win. Employee doesn't have to leave the campus to go see some hometown doctor. Promega could stand to gain reinforcement of their wellness programs, and productivity.

Some of the big (great) companies, for example, subsidize or even support a free cafeteria of a quality high enough to make people go there instead of out for lunch, again, keeps employees from leaving campus, and they end up getting a lot done. Promega actually has some nice cafeteria facilities (3 of the buildings have hot lunch options) for employees, and it's generally pretty reasonable $.

Elderly founder? Heh that's pretty funny.

Anyone else wondering why the company is spending money to set up a health clinic on site? Other than to justify hiring a chief medical officer. I don't see how it will save on health costs for Promega. Why would you seek health care from someone who doesn't have access to your health records. They say everything will be private because...all records will be on paper. Yep, paper guarantees privacy over electronic records. The whole thing seems like a nutty idea.

What does a GenCounsel do anyway, other than ride herd on the numerouse outside firms who do all the work and negotiate down the fees charges. Of course they get to play big shot and enjoy all the perk thrown at them by the various firms who want a piece of the action. its a ho hum job, with a ho hum company in a ho hum city...really not a bad gig if you can get it, especially these days(I'd be a bit nervous about the elderly founder neighbor or not thouh, those situations NEVER turn out good)

Q: The new general counsel is:

A. a neighbor/friend of BL's.
B. A fresh JD grad with little experience
C. Both A and B.
D. None of the the above.

The FAS at Promega are the most technical sales group ever. My staff in the in E are the best.

Noticed they brought in a new Gen Counsel from WARF, have they hired a new GM for N America Sales?

Promega sales dept is fine and getting better. Dead weight gone now and top staff in leadership roles. Record sales in 2009 and looking even better in 2010. Very happy!

Right. We at Sigma see them as a waste of money. Maybe if the get rid of some of the excess managers. Top heavy.

JS was a LW goon. He cannot survive there without LW. Good for Promega that he leaves.

Farewell to HS. Maxwell's former pilot his hands are off the stick now, and it is plummeting towards the sea, bye bye.

JS has gone too. Anybody know where to?

Maxwell is great for DNA, but fails as an RNA prep platform. There are a few limited instances where this is not a problem, but other platforms work for both nucleic acid types. Overall, I'm not sure if Maxwell is an Airbus 330 flying into trouble or a Boeing 787 that can't fly at all...

Promega is dying a slow death. Layoffs everywhere. You working there better start looking for a new job before you get the axe.

why is that? and what are you doing to help/prevent?

Maxwell is an Airbus 330 currently heading toward an equatorial thunderstorm at 36000 feet. There will likely be no survivors.

So what's the latest?

In 1978 as Promega was getting underway, aviation played a critical role in the start of our business. It started even further back in time at a small airport in Austin, Texas. The day I turned 17, I took savings and started flying lessons while I was in a summer science program for high school students at the University of Texas. The savings didn’t go far (only 4 lessons), but the interest continued until I received my private pilot’s license in 1978, the same year Promega was founded.

Building relations and raising money

With the first group of products ready for the market, I used a Cessna 150 (N7796U – now owned by a pilot in Hastings, Michigan) to expand customer visits beyond UW-Madison. Early visits included universities in Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan, and companies such as Monsanto and Sigma in St. Louis and Lilly in Indianapolis. Since the company needed capital, I visited investment groups in Minneapolis, Ann Arbor, Des Moines, and Chicago. Many of these flights were made with a professor of finance from UW. We were able to leave early in the morning, have meetings with 2-3 groups in a city, and be back in Madison that afternoon. Commercial air travel was prohibitively expensive and scheduling would have been problematic. To say that Promega’s commercial foundation was facilitated by private aviation would be an understatement.

As the geographical expansion continued, the small Cessna became impractical for longer distances. It was not until our acquisition of JBL Scientific (now Promega Biosciences) ten years ago that we started to think about adding the option of aircraft to our travel choices. Getting to and from San Luis Obispo from Madison takes about 24 hours by commercial airlines on a good day, checking in, waiting to board, transfers, not including the inevitable delays.

Next Generation Aviation

Five years ago we investigated several options for taking partial ownership in an aircraft, selecting NetJets and a 1/16th share of a Hawker 400XP. The experience was positive and for certain missions it was the best way to arrange travel. Eighteen months ago we were able to acquire a contract for purchasing our own aircraft, again a Cessna. This time, we increased carrying capacity from a few hundred pounds at 100 mph to 1500 pounds at 400 mph and 41,000 feet. This puts most cities on the east coast and the Midwest within a 2 hour flight of Madison, with up to 6 people on the plane.

Scott Polster has joined Promega as our company pilot, with over 13,000 hours in commercial aviation. Type ratings include the Lear 55, Beachcraft 1900, MD-80 and DC-9. Scott successfully completed two weeks of rigorous training at FlightSafetly in Wichita, qualifying for the Single Pilot type rating in this new plane. N978PC is the tail number of the Citation 510 Mustang, housed at the Dane County Regional Airport. The number represents the founding month and year of Promega (September 1978). Planned travel in the next month includes Boston, Washington DC, and yes – San Luis Obispo, to celebrate their 10th year anniversary in May.

"Although his entry defending the new jet was enlightening in exposing how he thinks.."

Please...PLEASE post his comments! I can't imagine how he justified (in his own mind) such a garish purchase. Do tell...

Many thanks!

Whoever said that BL runs the company for self aggrandizement nailed the problem. Take the so called Dynamic Connections project. Not a bad concept, but most people in Sales and Marketing have no idea what's going on. Hes focused on being the first life science company to have this or that trendy web technology instead of focusing on quality people managing things. having a blog and forums that no one cares about isn't going to make money. Speaking of blogs BL has one and hasn't figured out how to write about things employees would care about. Although his entry defending the new jet was enlightening in exposing how he thinks..

New facilities director is from SubZero. Rumor is she's a fireball.
Has a 'bs' degree (she'll need it), and is a 'certified facilities manager'.

Any idea who the new facility manager is?

oh dearie me

some things never change. Billy boy still runs he company for fun and self agrandisement. what fun can be had if one doesn't take it too seriously. just think what could have been if he didn't have a revolving door of talent. anyone with ba*** was too much of a threat - so he invests his money in the Madison equivalent of the Taj Mahal. Roll on the time when he is planted under it.

Wotanassheis!!!

Perfect description. Toads. How long will it take BL to see this? No one notices that LW is even gone...

The only real hope is that some of the toeds she brought in leave with her or disappear with the rest. Bunch of clueless jekrs. That would make it better for lots of us. But the ones they have sucking on to their coat tails are not better and maybe worse.

They'd sell out so they can retire and the natural buyer is SA.

Why else would they have got that chick on to the SAB with her history?

Don't forget manufacturing opps and sales, those have also experienced executions....

Layoffs, firings, whatever they call them, they ARE happening. No department is immune. R&D, Marketing, all have seen some executions. Intel is 1st hand, multiple sources.

The Sigma buyout rumor is bogus, though. Why would WAL and his barrel-of-laughs sidekick ML give up absolute power? Retire, maybe, sellout, no way

Promega isn't being bought by Sigma. Any other bogus rumors that need debunking?

Sigma Aldrich buying you guys out. Stay up with the play guys.

I have a hard time believing that a bunch of people are being let go and no one's made a big deal out of it. My manager gets the exit announcements and he said he hasn't seen any sudden dismissals of employees. Where are you getting your intel?

I know of four more for sure who were let go with others on the way. Others are feeling jumpy.

This is probably a sign of the times in this economy for any company. I am not sure where I would want to be right now (Except for Tahiti maybe...)

I know of four more for sure who were let go with others on the way. Others are feeling jumpy.

This is probably a sign of the times in this economy for any company. I am not sure where I would want to be right now (Except for Tahiti maybe...)

I haven't heard of people being let go, except the person who managed our print catalog. As for the jet, it's a private company and the owner can do whatever he wants. At least we run at the whims of one guy instead of a bunch of stockholders. I only worry when he gets tired of running things who he'll sell the company to. Then it will be time to panic.

Nobody is happy. People with 10, 15+ years experience are being let go. No explantation just...gone. Idiots in charge everywhere.

So WL indulges a hobby at the expense of the paychecks and merit increases of the employees, after a major economic/market meltdown just a few months earlier that killed the savings of so many? That is just cruel.

Corporate jet is so that WL can indulge his hobby without paying for it. This is advantage of owning your own company- you can run it as a hobby. I have also heard it described as 'a social experiment'. THis is not a company to develop your career, only if you like to stay in Madison, keep your head down and lose ambition.

So demoralizing.... no merit, or 1%, cutting out the catalog and all the hard-copy pubs... now WAL has bought a private jet plane... ugly double standard

we can't even revolt like peasants... just bend us over, we'll take about anything.

Most got no merit raises. Because of the economy. Why did we buy a plane? If anyone at Promega is reading this and knows why we bought this plane please share.

So what is happening to LW's friends that she brought to the company?

so let me get this all together....

workers get 1-2% raises
managers at each other's throat, presumably climbing the ladder
corporate team buy $1M corporate jet

where's the interest in the customer?
where's the interest in the company's most valuable asset--the employees?
if the employees leave, there will be no one to manage or to fly in the jet after all

recipe for doom and gloom for sure

I hear LW was on the way out for a while...what is next?

I interviewed there about 7-8 years ago and it was just bizarre. The guy who was supposed to take me to breakfast and the interview no-showed and the people who did come acted as if I wasn't there. I got in there and ran into some people who were very outgoing and pleasant and then others that asked all kinds of strange psychological questions. I was there a couple of days actually and left to myself at night. Not a very professional organization.

A new corporate jet? Really? That's sad if true. If people face any cut backs and find out money was wasted on a jet they'll be pissed.

Add the new corporate jet to that million dollar list.
A new cessna citation is the rumor.

They will be part of a larger whole. That is a fact.

Promega just announced the payraises. 20%...nothing, the rest get varying percentages, the max is 1-2%, even for managers. Its a toxic place and they are firing people who made solid contributions over the years but apparently have pissed off the VP or manager. Meanwhile BL has these million dollar pet projects. Promega has cash and no brains, and one day BL will get tired of it and sell it. Promega was and still is a great company??? I have seen really good companies get written up in magazines with high marks, or have internal satisfaction surveys with employee data supporting they are good companies. I haven't seen anything like that for Promega. I guarantee you Promega will never have an employee staisfaction survey.

Promega will get bought out one these days. They are small potatoes in the industry.

I may not be the same co. it used to be, but it's a good place to work as long as you aren't in corporate management. Plus, the company seems to have lots of cash on hand regardless of the economic situation. For instance there's a rumor that we're spending a million or so on a large web/social media/electronic catalog initiative. No one in the lower ranks seems to know how it'll all shake out. One coworker dismissed it as another of WALs wild schemes. He's been here a long time and seen some pretty crazy stuff go down. I wouldn't be surprised to see key players leave if they don't like the direction this takes the company.

I understand it is a dangerous place to be these days unless you're WAL. Too many managers setting improvised explosive devices for each other and any other percieved rivals. I hear it is kind of like Baghdad right now. Its a shame since there are a lot of really good people still there.

Promega was and is still a great company, but it was better when it had less than 500 employees. It's now about 1000. I understand it is now divided into camps, with no unifying corporate elements except legal and WAL.